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The educational functions of the Centre have been developed further during the year. Twelve girls have attended the Centre primary school, gaining Primary School Certificates. Through the services of the Education Department's Correspondence School, girls are at present studying, in addition to general subjects, commercial art, horticulture, poultry-keeping, biology, hygiene, homecraft, clothing, and typing. Training in the conduct of meetings and discussions and in democratic procedure is given by the Girls' Council. The Council is responsible for planning recreational activities, operates the ■canteen and the Centre newspaper, and acts as a guide and discussion group for problems of general behaviour. All girls have attended Churches of their own denomiation, and have developed valuable associations with members of the Churches by attending socials and Church functions. Ministers have visited the girls of their denominations fortnightly to talk with them and give instruction. The Maori girls have been visited regularly by a Maori Deaconess who, in addition to giving them suitable religious instruction, has taught them traditional games and songs. A full winter and summer programme of recreational training conducted on the informal group principle has been carried out, with all girls participating in at least one activity. Roller skating keep-fit classes, basketball matches, and tennis, in which game a large number of girls have been coached, have been provided. Twenty new girls learned to swim during the year, and all primaryschool girls have gained certificates. In the inter-house competitions held in November covering all these activities every girl in the Centre participated. Fareham House, Featherston In this institution, which provides for older Maori girls requiring training before placement in the community, 18 girls were in residence at 31st March, 1950. A feature of the programme in which the girls showed particular interest this year was the training in first aid given by the Red Cross Society ; all the girls in residence in September, 1949, passed the junior examination. Singing classes have also been popular. The religious aspect of the training has been carried out through regular Bible classes and by the attendance of the girls at Church or Chapel each Sunday morning. Boys' Training Centre, Levin During the year, as part of their training in citizenship, the boys have assisted in community service projects in Levin. Apart from the value of their contribution to the projects, the results have been valuable not only in developing the boys' understanding and appreciation of social responsibility, but also in making for good neighbourly relationships between the Centre and the town. The large well-equipped trade-training section provides facilities for specific training in carpentry, joinery, and upholstery as part of the Centre's programme of vocational training. In the course of their training in upholstery, which is the most recently developed, the boys are producing articles in leather such as file-cases, overnight bags, and Douglas chair cushions. Particularly through their training in painting, plumbing, and carpentry, the boys, together with their instructors, are able to meet the maintenance needs of the buildings and to undertake new construction work such as a firetank and swimming-pool on which they are working at present. At the Hokio Beach School section, where primary-school courses are provided, the boys live as a separate group. Boys who are continuing their education while living at the main part of the Training Centre do so by taking lessons from the Education Department's Correspondence School under the supervision of a member of the Centre staff. Sporting activities for all the boys are planned as an integral part of the whole training programme. Teams take part in the local competitions in basketball and Softball, and some boys play football, cricket and tennis with local clubs. The religious interests of the boys are provided for by permitting them to attend services in their own Churches in Levin, and through the visits by the ministers to the Centre. Special Schools Schools for Backward Children. —The Special School for Boys, Otekaike, provides for mentally retarded children who cannot for one reason or another be taught at an ordinary school or in a special class. Extracts from the annual report of the Manager are : At 31st March, 1950, the number of boys in residence was 111, of whom 88 were in the day-school section and 26 in the industrial division. Twenty-six new pupils were admitted during the year, and 32 boys have left the institution. Of those who left, 30 returned to active life in the community, and 2 who were found to be unsuitable for special-school training were transferred to a custodial home.

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